


Love Never Dies (It Just Gets Delayed a Little Sometimes)

by Missy



Category: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Genre: Family Feels, Friendship, Gen, Hero Worship, Humor, Kidnapping, Post-Canon, Repairing Robots, Return, Returning Home, Robot Feels, Robot-Parent Bonds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 13:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13008612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: When Tom accidentally fries some important circuits, Jonah's forced to surreptitiously call on a wise elder for advice.  Unfortunately, Kinga's got some nefarious plans up her sleeve that will thrill the bots but make thinks super awkward for Jonah.





	Love Never Dies (It Just Gets Delayed a Little Sometimes)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HippieGeekGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HippieGeekGirl/gifts).



> Happy birthday, babe!

The sun was bright and warm and impressively enormous outside of Tom’s window as he tilted his head and blinked into it.

“Wow. We’re passing a little close there, Gyps,” he declared. Gypsy popped her head into the room on her way back to the engine room.

“We’re going to circle around it and then go into free orbit,” she said. “It’s going to be a little bright for a while! Don’t keep looking directly into it or you’ll fry your optic processor.”

“Pft,” Tom said. “Optic processor, shmoptic processor. I’ve seen brighter things before, baby! Don’t worry about me – I’ll be just fine!”

 

 

****

**~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^~~**

 

 

“I don’t believe you friends your optic processor,” Jonah sighed, carefully opening Tom’s circuit panel and beginning to work at switching out his software.

“I regret nothing!” Tom said. “Don’t worry about me – the old Tom Monster’s been through worse! Why, I’ll just sniff my way around!”

“You’re a robot, Tom,” said Jonah. “Not a bloodhound. And your scent receptors aren’t that great!”

“That’s what upgrades are for, Jonah,” he smarted off. 

“Even with upgrades they won’t be that great.” He sighed heavily. “We’re going to have to call on the experts for this one,” Jonah said. “But the problem is that there’s only one expert in the whole history of Gizmonics who knows how to fix a problem like this, and no one’s seen him for twenty years!”

“Oh, you mean our dad Joel?” asked Crow. He had been casually standing at Jonah’s left elbow eating his sandwich and enjoying watching Tom getting a hearty scolding.

“Yes, and the father of sentient robotics. You know he hasn’t been seen for years, not since he disappeared in the desert one afternoon.”

“Pft. That’s what you get for believing fake news, Jonah,” said Crow. “I know how to get in touch with Joel!”

“I’m sure you do, Crow. Wait, how?” Jonah asked.

“Oh, that’s easy – there’s an on-call button on my back you can press! That connects up to his Hot Fish shop.”

“…You mean to tell me that Joel Robinson, the guy who invented autonomous AI in robots…is slinging hot fish in New Zeeland?”

“It’s a living!” Tom said.

“Oh my GOD!” Jonah whispered. His middle finger hovered over the temptation of the red call button. His eyes were round and shiny, the promise and the delight of the moment filling up the space between the three of them.

“If you’re gonna pee,” Crow said, “I’m gonna stand over here.”

“Think of your dignity, Jonah. You don’t have much of it! Hold on to it, man!” Tom urged.

“Can’t…hold back…temptation too great!” Jonah pressed the button.

Tom made an extremely loud buzzing noise before emitting a bright red light, a tiny, hidden screen on his back panel popping to life.

 

 

****

**~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^~~**

 

 

“So all you have to do is press his Staples Center back into position,” the man on the screen said – clearly Joel Robinson, though he looked more like a kindly schoolteacher than the maverick his fellow Gizmonic employees had whispered about.

“Got it!” Jonah said. He pressed a couple more buttons and Tom’s processor whirred to life. “How are you doing, buddy?”

“Why…I can see! It’s a Saint Swivens’ Day Miracle!” Tom said, effecting a cockney accent.

“Thanks a lot, Mister Robinson,” Jonah said.

“Please call me Joel. Mister Robinson’s my weird uncle with the impacted earwax problem.”

Jonah nodded wisely. The lights started to flicker then, the ship started to rock. He shouted for Gypsy to give him a look at Rocket Number Nine, but then the room filled with mist – and when it cleared, standing beside him was Joel Robinson!

They screamed together, a long concerto of confusion that was only ended by the sound of Kinga’s voice coming from the viewscreen. 

“So are you enjoying my little surprise?” she sang.

“Kinga!” Jonah said. “You monster!” 

“Monster? Do you mean super incredible genius?” she threw back her head and laughed.

“What kind of genius would kidnap and innocent inventor from his house?”

“Simple boys – it’s all about the money, as Jessie J once said,” said Kinga extravagantly. “Reunions are huge business. Will and Grace and Rosanne have proven one thing, and that’s that people are so miserable about the present that they really want to revisit their childhoods! And Joel Robinson is major nostalgia points personified! Just look at him!” Her lip curled up. “No seriously. Look at him.”

“Hey, I’d prefer to call myself distinguished, thank you,” Joel said. Tom and Crow were clinging to his sides and he was trying to hug them and look tough at the same time – failing at the task, but trying to.

“Don’t be hard on him, Kinga! I think he has a manly essence,” Max declared. “Kind of like Wily Wonka, only shorter.” 

“Hey, I’m taller than Gene Wilder,” Joel said.

“I think you’re focusing on the wrong problem,” Jonah said. He was sweatting his way through his jumpsuit at this point.

“Oh believe me – the two of you haven’t even begun to know trouble,” Kinga sneered. “Max and I are still looking for that renegade Mike Nelson. Pretty soon you’ll all be together, fighting it out Big Brother style for my adoring audience.”

“You won’t get away with this!” Jonah yelled.

“Right, keep telling yourself that. You’ve got five til movie sign. 

“Sorry about this, Mister Robinson,” muttered Jonah.

“It’s no problem. At this point I’m kind of used to it – and it was pretty boring out in New Zealand. I do have a question though, what have you been doing to the place? ” 

Clinging to Joel’s hip, Crow and Tom scrabbled for the right purchase. It didn’t matter to him that he was going to be subjected to a bunch of bad movies – only that he wouldn’t be doing it alone. “Boy, we are one weird family,” Crow remarked, crossing his long legs, pouting at the sound of Jonah and Joel arguing about how to work a perfectly good toaster that Jonah had insisted on throwing away. They were weird, true – and funny, true.

But they were a loving family, and that was really all that mattered.


End file.
